When Jonathan Broxton struck out Rick Ankiel to end Game Three of the NLDS tonight, the Cardinals officially went into offseason mode, turning their eyes towards 2010. The team has several impending free agents, including Ankiel, Mark DeRosa, Matt Holliday, Troy Glaus, Khalil Greene, Jason LaRue, Joel Pineiro, John Smoltz, and Todd Wellemeyer, while Ryan Ludwick and Skip Shumaker figure to get considerable raises through arbitration. Holliday projects to be a Type-A free agent, DeRosa and Pineiro come in as Type-B's.
St. Louis has an excellent core in place with Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Colby Rasmus, and, of course, Albert Pujols, so the pieces are there. After finishing seventh in the NL with 730 runs scored and third with 640 runs allowed this year, what do you think the Cardinals need to do this winter to improve their team for next season?
